On June 28, 1996, in the fifth year after the declaration of independence, the Constitution of Ukraine was adopted.
How the Basic Law was adopted and why our state — the last of the post-Soviet countries received a Constitution, in the ICTV Facts material for Constitution Day.
Constitution Day – how the Basic Law of Ukraine was created
The process of creating a new Constitution began on July 16, 1990 after the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR adopted the Declaration on the State Sovereignty of Ukraine. In October of the same year, the Constitutional Commission was created.
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The collapse of the Soviet Union and the declaration of independence on August 24, 1991 accelerated and updated the process of creating the Basic Law of Ukraine.
At the same time, the Ukrainian Constitution was not created from scratch.
— The basis was the French model of approach to the Constitution plus the Constitution of the Ukrainian SSR. It is also clear that the Universalists of the Central Rada, and the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk in particular, had a direct and indirect influence on the modern Ukrainian Constitution, — political scientist, co-founder of the National Platform for Sustainability and Cohesion Oleg Sahakyan told Facts ICTV.
The first draft of the Constitution of Ukraine was adopted in 1992 and submitted for public discussion. On October 26, 1993, the final version was developed. Then the matter was suspended due to disputes about the distribution of power and property, state symbols, the status of the Russian language and the status of Crimea.
Already in November 1994, after early presidential and parliamentary elections, new people's servants created another Constitutional Commission. At the same time, the process was delayed again.
8 June 1995, the President and the Verkhovna Rada signed a Constitutional Agreement on the organization of state power and local self-government for the period of adoption of the new Constitution of Ukraine. But he did not solve the problem of adopting the Constitution.
November 24, 1995 The Constitutional Commission supported the proposal of the President of Ukraine and created a new working group to finalize the constitutional draft.
In March 1996, the draft, developed by the first working group and finalized by the second working group, was submitted for discussion to the Constitutional Commission and recommended for consideration by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
May 28 — On June 4, 1996, the first reading of the draft took place, and two weeks later — second. The revised draft of the Basic Law was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada in the first reading on June 4. In preparation for the second reading of the draft Constitution of Ukraine, the Temporary Special Commission took into account almost 6 thousand amendments.
Protesters on June 19, 1996 demand the adoption of the Constitution/Verkhovna Rada
On the eve of the adoption of the Constitution, at the end of June, the situation became tense. On June 26, the National Security Council and the Council of Regions under the President of Ukraine sharply condemned the delay in adopting the document.
The President scheduled a referendum on its adoption for September 25. But the next day the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted for the resolution on the procedure for considering the draft Constitution of Ukraine in the second reading.
Then, in order to create the main law of the country, on the night of June 27-28, 1996, the people's representatives worked continuously for about 23 hours. This moment went down in history as Constitutional Night.
— In the end, several years of non-acceptance of the Constitution were due to the fact that it was supposed to become a compromise between the communists and the Rukhovites. Between the new Ukrainian elite, which asserted itself, and the old Ukrainian SSR, which accepted the new reality and tried to maintain its influence in it. Our Constitution has actually become a compromise between many incompatible things, — political scientist indicates.
Thus, some parliamentarians voted for downplaying the role of presidential power, private property relations, for granting equal status to the Ukrainian and Russian languages and maintaining the autonomous status of Crimea.
Other people's representatives advocated a strong presidential vertical, guaranteeing the fullness of private property rights, the dominance of the Ukrainian language and the elimination of the autonomy of Crimea.
Draft Constitution of 1996/Institute of National Remembrance
After repeated voting, a compromise was found, and on June 28, 1996 at 9:18 am, Ukraine finally received a new Constitution.
At the same time, in 1996, the constitutional process was not completed. It continues to this day as society develops.
